Saturday, March 08, 2008

Valentine’s Day ‘08

I started the day with a dentist appointment I'd been avoiding for several months. As a pregnant woman, I've been told to NOT AVOID THE DENTIST so I finally braved my fears and went. To be honest, I was in LA the day before and missed the follow up call confirming the appointment and had I received the call, I would have definitely canceled it. I'm no superwomen in this category.

Surprisingly, the appointment was fine. The new dental hygienist was incredibly kind and patient and she was very careful to apply the gum numbing paste, keep my mouth rinsed and didn't spray junk all over my face and give me a pair of goggles to wear (all previous experiences with Olga).

On my way to work, I stopped at Panera to get my favorite lunch, continued to work and had lunch before starting work. Around 1:30, I started sneezing and getting a clogged nose. I thought no big deal; pregnancy brings a daily sneeze and a bit of a clogged nose.

By 2:30, it got worse and people were telling me to go home and rest. So I left by 3:30 with a mild cold, came home and finished working by 7 while husband played a compilation of love songs in the background and made dinner. I had tea and dove bars before dinner and felt tired with a runny nose but not too bad. I went to bed to rest my eyes while hubs finished dinner. Got up, and progressively through dinner felt my nostrils close down. After dinner, I asked hubs to run to the store and get doctor approved Tylenol cold medicine because I cannot sleep with a completely clogged nose.

We watched Romancing the Stone and it's a really fun movie but during it my nose continued to clog until I could only breath out of my mouth and drinking any water made me feel like I was underwater with my mouth open. It caused me to dry heave, breath heavily and blow my nose non-stop until I looked ready to pass out. Needless to say the medicine did nothing! Halls did nothing. Usually one of these items works to open the clogged passage. Does pregnancy counter the affects of drugs?

Since I could not take any more medicine without consulting a doctor, hubs ransacked the home to find our trusty "Foods that harm, foods that heal" book and found the following remedy:

* Steam a pot of water to boiling, place face over steaming water with towel over head basically replicating a sauna or humidifier. This actually worked to clear enough space so I could drink water without feeling like I was drowning.

From my mom:

* Mom's cure for a cold is crushed garlic, lime juice and honey. I tried this after the nasal passages opened and surprisingly tasted nothing and was able to get it down.

From Make magazine:

* Rub Vicks vapor rub on the feet and cover with heavy socks.

By this time it was midnight and I was exhausted but with enough breathing ability to go to bed. I slept the entire night with bi-hourly bathroom breaks and felt marginally better by morning but not nearly as horrified and miserable as the night before.

From my humble perspective, my husband gave me the most romantic Valentines Day by doing every thing he could think of to reduce my suffering. Thanks hubs, for being this girl's hero.